


Worth More

by AngelsofGlory666



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining, True Love, True Mates, Virgin Bucky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-05-28 12:34:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15049160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelsofGlory666/pseuds/AngelsofGlory666
Summary: James Buchanan Barnes, known by those closest to him as Bucky, wasn’t lucky in love. Not even decent. He’d loved once and once alone. Unrequited and painful a love it had been. It was such a terrible experience he swore never to open himself up to try and love again.He’d run from his family and friends. He’d run from the one who rejected him. He’d run from the humiliation and heartbreak. Only, the heartbreak followed him. Never had he lost it. It held tightly to him and didn’t let up. Whenever he thought he was doing well on his own, cut off from those he loved and grew up with, it would hit him. The memory of those he loved. Theonehe was in love with...Or the one where Bucky returns to the city he once knew. Meets the alpha he ran away from, Steve Rogers, and proceeds to ignore the elephant in the room. Bucky is completely blind to Steve’s plight, until he isn’t, and continues to hurt him to protect himself from being hurt again.(Sucky summary, but I’m at work, so, yeah. :p)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you would like to see me continue this story, comment below and let me know.
> 
> Comments are the food to my creativity and writing.

James Buchanan Barnes, known by those closest to him as Bucky, wasn’t lucky in love. Not even decent. He’d loved once and once alone. Unrequited and painful a love it had been. It was such a terrible experience he swore never to open himself up to try and love again.

He’d run from his family and friends. He’d run from the one who rejected him. He’d run from the humiliation and heartbreak. Only, the heartbreak followed him. Never had he lost it. It held tightly to him and didn’t let up. Whenever he thought he was doing well on his own, cut off from those he loved and grew up with, it would hit him. The memory of those he loved. The _one_ he was in love with... 

Even now, though he knew it was helpless and sick, he still loved that alpha. He couldn’t break away from that love. So Bucky wasn’t lucky in love, not even close. But he had loved and he knew what it felt like to be rejected for that love. Specifically, to be rejected by that love in front of two hundred and fifty three witnesses. Ten years after that rejection and Bucky was still suffering. 

He’d always been a lean and well toned omega. He hadn’t been the typical omega. He wasn’t full figured, and he had no curves to his hips. He was more toned than any omega he’d ever met. He’d been a strange one for his status and he’d been best friends with an alpha that hardly looked like one. As children, people made fun of them, but they always had each other. Bucky grew to love that alpha more than in a platonic way. 

He fell in love with that alpha and defended him when others made fun of him for being short and thin. It didn’t matter what shape that alpha came in, it was his heart that Bucky fell for, and he’d fallen hard. Never having the courage to confess.

That was his biggest mistake. Maybe if Bucky had said something then, when they were young, the alpha would have grown to consider his feelings? He might have learned to love Bucky as much as he loved his alpha. That wasn’t what happened. Bucky only loved his alpha in silence. 

Although he and his alpha shared everything with each other, his alpha had kept one secret. That secret being he’d volunteered for a test to enhance one’s abilities. That science experiment carried amazing results. His alpha had changed drastically. He grew tall, so much taller than the average alpha. Towering at 6’2. As he grew in height, so had he grown in muscle mass. 

The government became involved with his alpha’s life and Bucky hadn’t liked it. He hadn’t liked that his alpha was doing things beyond his knowledge and that his alpha was sworn to secrecy. But his alpha was happy. He was working for his country and Bucky could see the pride in his eyes, so he’d accepted it.

Bucky was a strange one for his status. Although he physically matured when most omegas presented, he had yet to have his first heat. It worried his family as much as it had Bucky. Typically, omegas matured between the ages of twelve to sixteen, but at the age of eighteen most began to wonder if there was something wrong with Bucky. He still smelled like a youngling omega, and it was embarrassing that his scent hadn’t ripened with maturity. But his alpha was always there to defend him and comfort him, even when his alpha grew into his status.

Omegas, betas, and even other alphas fell hard for his alpha. Only after his alpha grew into his true alpha status did others take notice to what Bucky had known was there since pre-school. It hurt to watch others openly flirt with his alpha. It hurt even more when his alpha blushed with all their flattery, and after a time begin to flirt back. 

It broke him when he watched as his alpha fell for a beautiful and strong beta in their sophomore year of college. He’d watched helplessly as his alpha was lost to him and he fell deeply for the beta that clearly inhabited everything that Bucky lacked. She had a curvy body with the most appealing scent of hazelnut. She was beautiful, even Bucky could admit that. 

He tried to be appealing to his alpha, but he was too lean for an omega and muscular in a masculine way that only alphas should be. He tried eating more, but being the captain of their college wrestling team made it difficult to keep the weight on. He attempted to wear more softer colors, more feminine clothing, and even wear eyeliner, but he only came off as androgynous looking, and looked poor in comparison to his alpha’s fancy. 

His alpha began dating the beta in the end of their sophomore year. Bucky wished and prayed everyday that the two would break up. It was selfish, but she wasn’t right for his alpha. He was the best person for his alpha. He was the one who’d been there since the beginning and he just knew they were meant to be. His inner wolf practically bayed for it. 

His alpha and the beta dated throughout the rest of their years in college. They even moved in together in their senior year. Bucky knew what that meant. All Bucky had ever known was how to love his alpha. He’d been in love since before he’d hit puberty and he’d never had eyes for anyone else. So it only made sense that Bucky never thought to date anyone else, not that there had been many offers, being that he smelled of a youngling who hadn’t fully matured. But his alpha had matured and aged into a beautifully masculine alpha and he’d met someone, that beta. So he knew, even though his alpha never confessed it, his alpha and his alpha’s beta became intimate. There was no hiding it and it tore away at Bucky’s heart.

When his alpha left their shared apartment to be with that beta, it hurt Bucky so deeply that the wound hadn’t healed in all the years that followed. Even now he couldn’t think of those two by name. It broke him every time he acknowledged them by name. It brought memories from their past to the forefront when doing it, so he remained abstract when recalling them. It helped lessen the throbbing of his heart. 

His alpha and the beta became engaged on graduation day and Bucky had forced a smile through the pain when his alpha asked him to be his best man. Bucky’s luck in love was terrible, yes, but his luck overall was shit when just a week before his alpha’s wedding he at last presented. Age twenty one, at last presented. Having gone through a lonely and painful heat, but regardless, getting through it. Only to then see the mark at his inner wrist and reading the name in the clear black cursive scrawl of his alpha’s hand writing... his soulmate’s name. It was his alpha’s name and that was all the clarification he needed. 

Bucky knew there wasn’t much time, but he had chosen to fight for his love. Only... How could he when there was less than a week before the alpha’s wedding? Bucky tried regardless. He tried so hard to talk to his alpha, but it was as if the world were fighting against them. Every time Bucky got a moment alone with his alpha he tried to tell him. He tried to explain himself. His soul mark hidden by his wristwatch from the view of the world. He coudn’t risk someone seeing it before he could talk to his alpha first. 

However, each time he tried to tell his alpha, someone or something got in the way of it, until the day of the wedding had come and Bucky was standing in agony watching the pastor read from his scripture. He had to say something, but how could he say it there? How could he tell his alpha in front of hundreds witnessing the wedding? How could he say it in front of the very beta he was trying to ruin with his confession?

He’d remained in a conflicting silence until the moment the pastor asked if anyone knew of a reason why the couple shouldn’t wed, and Bucky had spoken. 

Bucky shut his eyes as the memory of that day came back in full detail. Standing at his alpha’s right, his body trembling with nerves as he cleared his throat in the deadening silence of the church. In front of all those that knew them, he stepped closer to his surprised alpha among the harsh whispers and gasps, to reveal his inner left wrist as he whispered one painful confession.

“I’ve loved you always.” Bucky’s sight had fogged by the overwhelming tears as his wrist bared the mark of his alpha’s name. 

His alpha had stared on in silence. Unmoving. Mouth agape, brilliant blue eyes wide with disbelief, but not a word left his lips. The beta standing at his alpha’s side, still holding his soulmate’s hand, tightened her hold on his. She stared at Bucky with remorse, but there was desperation for their alpha to look back at her.

His alpha’s scent, so warm and heartening, apples and spice soured over and gave off an overwhelming amount of sadness. His alpha looked back to the beta he was to marry, then to her hand holding his own in a death-grip. Pain so great filled his eyes at the sight of it, and then he turned to stare back at Bucky again. 

Bucky shut his eyes, he knew. That look alone said everything the alpha could not vocalize... compassion and pity. Unable to reciprocate those feelings. The pity was what truly destroyed him. His alpha had made his choice and Bucky was to be one of those poor omegas rejected by his alpha.

 _“Bucky, I... I’m so sorry.”_ His alpha had murmured hoarsely and those were the words that would forever follow him with heartbreak murdering his soul.

With trembling hands, Bucky removed the wedding rings from his pocket, those small rings having burned his soul, and without looking, he’d shoved them at his alpha who’d barely managed to grab a hold of them. Having received his answer he’d rushed out of that church with shame and heartbreak consuming him. Those harsh whispers of the many witnesses solidified the belief that he wasn’t good enough and it destroyed what little confidence he’d had left. 

He hadn’t taken time to consider that it wasn’t his family’s fault that his alpha rejected him. In that moment, Bucky didn’t care for anyone or anything. He didn’t want to be there for a second longer. He didn’t want the people he’d grown up with and who knew him so well to look at him with that same pity his alpha had looked at him with. He didn’t want to receive comfort from his family, knowing that they felt sorry for him and his insufficient love for the alpha. He didn’t want anyone who knew him to look at him and know his pain, because now everyone who he knew within New York City knew his heart had been destroyed. They knew he was one of those poor omegas that were rejected because they weren’t good enough.

Ten years after that day and Bucky still suffered from that rejection. He was no longer the carefree, confident, social omega he’d been beside his alpha. He was quiet, reserved, calculating, and at times bitter. He simply wasn’t friendly. However, he was the most loving and kind to the two people he’d met after he’d lost everything, and certainly with the children they'd made together. They meant more to him than anything else. They were his friends and family, both figuratively and literally. Though others thought their relationship strange, that didn’t matter to them. 

Bucky never thought he’d find himself back in New York, but that was what happened. Life brought him back here and now, as he stood outside of his childhood home being overwhelmed by a swarm of memories, he hoped he’d made the right decision.


	2. Chapter 2

Bucky stood in front of his childhood home, staring blankly at the front door. Memories flashed before him, until all at once he’d snapped back to the present, recalling his purpose. He knew why he’d come back to New York. The alpha of his children, and his alpha’s mate (first omega) decided it was best for the whole family to be close to one another. Bucky wished his alpha and first omega didn’t have to work in New York City, but it was out of his control. He’d been back in New York for more than eight months now. His family lived in a quiet neighborhood in Staten Island, far enough from Queens that it gave Bucky the reassurance he was unlikely to run into people he wanted to avoid. 

He’d wanted to contact his family to tell them, but it had never felt right. Since the day he’d left New York, he hadn’t contacted anyone from his past. As the years passed, it became difficult to keep away from his family. Then he’d had his first litter and truly understood motherhood. He’d felt awful for separating himself from his family, especially his mother. All she’d ever been was loving towards him, and what had Bucky done? He’d cut ties with her and the rest of his family because of that alpha and the shame he’d felt. 

Even as his regret, sorrow, and longing grew, he hadn’t given into the guilt, for fear of how they would now respond to his long absence.

When he’d moved back to New York City, those desires hadn’t lessened. They only grew, until one day, soon after dropping his pups off to school, he’d traveled to Queens and found himself standing outside of his childhood home.

Glancing down at his wristwatch, he read the time and was alarmed by how long he’d been standing outside. If he was going to do this, it had to be now. His alpha and first omega were at work and he was the one that predominantly cared for their children. He’d need to leave soon in order to be back in time to pick them up. 

With these thoughts, Bucky bit the bullet and rang the doorbell and waited. It didn’t take all that long before Bucky heard soft footsteps approach the door. A moment later, the door swung open to reveal a face Bucky thought he’d never be fortunate enough to see again.

A short, pale woman stood before Bucky. Her kind, warm green eyes stared up at him with disbelief. It had been ten years, and in that time, so much about this woman’s features had changed. There were more wrinkles at the ends of her eyes, more silver in her red hair. Yet, if possible less laugh lines visible around her mouth, maybe it was the pain that was eating away in Bucky that caused him to notice that most of all. 

In ten years, his mother had aged far too much for his liking. It was all too much to bare witness to that he couldn’t stop his eyes from watering over, or the tears from falling in the next moment. 

“ _Mom_.” Bucky voiced, wounded at the sight of those green eyes turning pained as recognition took root. 

“James.” His mother sobbed, and before he knew it, he found himself being pulled into her arms in what could only be described as a mother’s loving embrace. He found security, warmth, and love in his mother’s arms. There was no accusation, no condemning, no resentment... just love, and Bucky broke.

He leaned heavily into the embrace, even knowing how he towered her, and how he wasn’t as slim as he’d once been. No matter how cubby he’d become, his mother seemed to hold his weight in her slighter form as if he weighed nothing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky was seated across from his mother inside of a picturesque kitchen. A fresh cup of tea set before him. He was in a place that should feel familiar to him. He’d grown up in this home, but nothing was as he remembered it. Different appliances, furniture, and decorations filled the home.

The biggest change. The most alarming change was in his mother’s face. He couldn’t get over it. She’d aged so much since the last time he’d seen her. He was a terrible son for having broken contact with his family, and the longer he starred into those gleaming green eyes, he knew it was true. 

“I’m so sorry.” Bucky felt like a failure of a son.

His mother’s eyes turned soft as she raised a hand to palm his cheek and stroked his clean shaven face. 

“Hush, darling. I know you are.”

Bucky was amazed. How could his mother be so kind to him after he’d run away? The astonishment was clear in his eyes. His mother could see the wonder as clear as day.

“I understand you more than you think. I just wish things hadn’t happened the way they did. I’ve been so worried about you.” Winifred Barnes sighed sadly, slender thumb stroking his jaw. 

“Mom...” Bucky felt the guilt eat away at him. “I never meant to leave for so long. I had always meant to call you. I just... It just became harder to do the longer I waited.”

Winifred shut her eyes briefly at Bucky’s confession, before giving a curt nod with acceptance of it’s truth. “It’s alright, dear. I would wait forever if it meant I could see you again one day.” 

Bucky’s eyes stung at the honesty of his mother’s promise and he nodded his head somberly, knowing she meant every word. 

“So where’s dad? I’d thought he’d be here?”

“You know your father. Teaching astrophysics is his life. He refuses to retire.” Winifred sighed with a gentle smile across her lips, and lowered her hand from Bucky’s cheek. “So tell me about yourself? What have you been doing these past ten years?” 

Bucky could see that his mother was trying to make things light with this conversation and he was more than desperate enough to take it. Smiling weakly at his cup of tea, he wasn’t sure what he could say. His life still held rather a lot of pain and longing. 

“Well... I ran a successful bakery in Wyoming for several years. I gave it up when I decided to move back here.”

Winifred’s eyes lit up. “You’re planing on staying?”

Bucky hadn’t come willingly. He’d come because his alpha and first omega had asked it of him, and because their children wanted it. Bucky caved because he’d known it was the best decision for their family. With his alpha and his alpha’s omega working out here in New York, the strain was felt by all parties. They’d all been miserable being separated for so long. So Bucky had caved. It’d taken a year to convince him to give into the change, but seeing the joy it brought his family, and now his mother, Bucky was starting to believe it was the best choice he could have made.

“Yes. I... I have children now. Cooper is the oldest. He’s nine years old, but is so mature for his age. Lila, just turned seven last month. She is just the sweetest little thing. Nathaniel, the youngest and most rambunctious, is one years old.” Bucky swallowed nervously as he watched the shock fill his mother’s eyes at his confession.

Tears came next, and for a painful moment Bucky thought it was brought on by sorrow, but then his mother gave into joyful laughter. Her face lighting up so much so that it reminded Bucky of the young woman she’d once been. Joyful, kind, and always in a cheery mood. 

“Three! I have three grandchildren? I’m a grandmother...”

Bucky felt his own eyes sting all the more by the pure happiness that infected his mother. He felt just as pleased by her response. He knew he’d done a terrible injustice to her by keeping away. He not only lost time with her, but his children had lost the opportunity to have grandparents, an aunt, and feel the warmth and love of the Barnes family.

“They are so beautiful and I know you will love them.”

“Oh, I already do! Please bring them soon. Oh... You must have a alpha then. Is- Is he good to you?”

Bucky hesitated then. He didn’t know what to say. How to explain that, yes, he did have an alpha, but he wasn’t _his_ alpha. Not entirely.

“What? What is it?” 

He wasn’t ever good at hiding anything from his mother, but he suddenly didn’t like the look she was giving him. Her smile had vanished to be replaced by fear and an overwhelming feeling of dread. Bucky, couldn’t have her misunderstand, but by telling her the truth, he’d only break her heart. 

He’d met his alpha and his alpha’s mate through renting out a guesthouse from them. The home he rented was only a few arcs from their own home. Out in the remote parts of Wyoming forrest. 

The guesthouse wasn’t all that big, but the kitchen was perfect for him. He’d begun selling pastries he baked to restaurants in cities around him. His alpha and his alpha’s mate became his number one clients, and his test-tasters. His landlords were busy people. They worked all around the country together. Bucky found it hard to socialize with others, but they were different. They instinctively knew how to be there and not push, how to comfort without being overbearing. Over time they’d grown close, so close in fact that when they weren’t traveling for work they spent nearly everyday together. 

It wasn’t until nearly six months after becoming close to them that he’d learned of their true identities. Five years later the world learned of their identities, but that was another story. Bucky hadn’t run from the truth about what they did in their past, he’d accepted them for who they were because he trusted them wholeheartedly. A month later, they’d asked him to be their omega mother. His alpha’s mate was infertile because of a procedure she’d been forced to undergo when she’d been a young omega. Bucky had always wanted pups, but having been rejected by his mate had led him to live his life alone and bitter. Yet these two people accepted him. No mater how reserved he’d been, they’d accepted him and cared for him as if he were already family. 

Bucky had agreed and made them a even bigger family. Bucky was never intimate with his alpha, opting for artificial insemination. But his alpha gave him the comfort and attention a healthy omega mother needed. Bucky’s omega was so desperate to be loved that he’d accepted the alpha as _his_ alpha, and the alpha’s omega accepted him as if he were her alpha’s second mate. It was a odd relationship. Alpha’s didn’t have second or third omegas anymore, not since the early 40’s. It was viewed as archaic and cruel to any omega that came later on into a pairing. It worked for them well enough. For years after affirming the union through the conception of Bucky’s first through artificial insemination, they’d received strange looks. If anyone ever did dare to insult Bucky or question his validity to the most obviously mated pair, he had his alpha and first omega to protect him and put those people into their place.

Bucky didn’t dare tell his mother the whole truth. If she were to learn that he was only second omega in name only it would break her heart. It wasn’t that his alpha and the first omega hadn’t made the offer to accept him truly as their second mate, but that Bucky refused. He’d been raised to believe in waiting for ones true mate. Omegas were blessed to bare the name of their true mate once they presented. Alphas never carried soul marks. Most everyone believed mother moon chose to mark their counterpart so clearly as their alpha’s that others would not dare try and take what was gifted to the omega’s true alpha. 

Bucky had only ever known how to love his true alpha, had only ever wanted him, had waited with a hope that when he presented it would be proof. Proof he was worthy and blessed by the moon goddess. His alpha _should_ have chosen him, but for whatever reason, his alpha found him lacking. He wasn’t good enough for his true alpha. Maybe he hadn’t been full figured enough then? Maybe he couldn’t compare to that beta’s beauty? Maybe he wasn’t smart enough, not like that beta who was in honors and one of the most smartest in their school? That didn’t matter now. He’d been rejected publicly and that hurt pierced him so deep. Bucky never wanted anyone other than his true mate so he resigned himself to being alone in that way. But he wasn’t unloved, his mates loved him, his children loved him, and they all needed him. It was enough for Bucky. It was all he could have, and so it had to be enough for him.

All of this he could never reveal to his mother, and so he rather let her think what everyone else thought when they saw the three together. 

“No, mom. No. He’s a wonderful mate. My family, they are the best. I couldn’t be any happier. I just... Please don’t judge harshly when I tell you.”

“Tell me what?” His mother didn’t sound reassured by his words, only more in need of an explanation to calm her nerves.

“I’m the second mate to my alpha.” Bucky said softly, scanning his mother’s features and slowly watched as her face softened to one of sympathy.

“ _James_.” The way his mother said his name was so clearly meant to soothe him of hurts and feelings of inadequacies at being a second. Bucky didn’t want that.

“No. Mother. Really. I’m happy. I’m treated well. My alpha, his first, and I make a good team. I’m given more than enough attention and care. We all love each other and our pups are happy. My life is great.” Bucky meant all of that. It could have been even better if he’d had that one alpha’s love he’d always wanted back, but that wasn’t possible. So this life, his life he’d had to make for himself was the best that it could be. It was the happiest he could be without that one’s love, so it was perfect. 

“James, he isn’t...” Winifred broke eye contact, and stared down to her own untouched cup of tea and licked her lips nervously. Unsure how to phrase her words delicately. “He isn’t your true mate. Honey... I think you should know that Steve-“

“ _Mom_.” Bucky cut in firmly. Unable to hear that name allowed by anyone, certainly not within his mind. “The alpha I have now is better than _him_. He hasn’t ever rejected me. He will always protect me and our pups. He helped me move on with my life. Before I met him and his mate I was miserable and alone. I- I was in a dark place, and since I met them, all I’ve felt was contentment and happiness. I would do anything for them.” Bucky couldn’t hold in the tears anymore, because he knew who his mother was referring to. He knew that his alpha of now was only there in his life and giving him all the things he’d only ever wanted from his _true_ alpha because he’d been rejected by his true mate. The image of that alpha standing beside that beta in that church filled his mind’s eye again and Bucky wanted to crumble from that image. If he could, he’d find the place where that image was hidden within his mind and burn it, along with every reminder of that man.

“ _He_ rejected me.” Bucky hissed, eyes clenched tight, recalling the deep blue of that alpha’s eyes.

“James... If you only knew what Steve-“

Bucky abruptly stood to his feet, unable to hear another word about _that_ alpha. He could go his entire life never remembering that alpha and be all the happier for it. 

“James, wait!” Winifred's shout resonated deep within Bucky’s bones, giving him enough pause that his mother rushed to catch up to him at the front door. 

Her tiny hands wrapped around his arms and forced him to face her terror-stricken gaze. Her green eyes shone, deathly afraid that this parting would end in anger. 

“I’m sorry, so very sorry. I won’t talk about him again. I won’t even say his name. I swear. Just please, don’t leave again.”

All at once Bucky felt like a terrible son. His mother was consumed with the fear of losing him again. He wanted away from the reminder of that man, but never did he want away from his mother. Not again. Never would he leave his mother like that.

Raising his arms, Bucky wrapped them tenderly around his mother’s slighter form and held her close to his heart where she belonged.

“No... I’m the one whose sorry. I wouldn’t leave you like that. I just... I don’t want to talk about him. I promise you I won’t leave you like that ever again.”

Bucky felt his mother nod her head against his chest, her body shuddering against him with silent tears. Much like she’d done for him, he held her through it. One palm running soothing circles over her back. They remained there for several long moments until the trembling of his mother’s voiceless sobs stilled and her breathing regulated once more.

Pulling away from his embrace Winifred hurriedly dried her face of any tears that remained, so that she could look up at him stronger now having received his reassurance and comfort. 

This was everything he’d wanted. To be reunited with his mother once again. He still needed to see his father and sister, but for now, this was enough. His mother’s love was one thing he’d longed for and now he had it, wholeheartedly.

He would love nothing more than to stay here with his mother, but that wasn’t possible. Glancing to his wristwatch and reading the time, he knew he needed to go. He needed to get back to Staten Island so that he could make it on time picking up Nathaniel from the daycare center and than to Cooper’s and Lila’s school.

“Mom... I have to go now so I’m on time picking up the kids.” Bucky explained, wanting nothing more than to spend time with his mother catching up. He’d spent to much time staring at his childhood home immobilized by fears of his past and whether or not he’d be welcome. 

Winifred’s eyes softened with understanding, her hands fidgeting with the end of her buttoned cardigan. She knew he needed to go, but the overwhelming need for him to stay was so clear in her eyes. 

“Your father will hate himself for not being here to have seen you.” Winifred said, her voice going hoarse with the strain of holding in her emotions. 

Bucky laughed weakly at her attempt for humor. His eyes stinging, finding it difficult to set his limbs into moving, but his children needed him and with that thought he forced himself to go and open the front door. 

Winifred followed him toward his black SUV parked a house down from her own. Bucky paused after opening the driver’s door when his mother called after him.

“Come for Sunday dinner. Your father and sister will be there. You’ll also get to meet her fiancé. Yes, she’s getting married.” Winifred laughed with amusement at the stunned look Bucky sent her by the revelation his little sister was getting married. When he’d left she’d been a sweet little thirteen year old omega that had looked up to him. They’d done everything together and now she was getting married. He’d really missed so much in her life.

Bucky hesitated at the invitation for only a moment. Sunday dinners had always been a big thing for his family. No matter what everyone was busy with, they’d drop everything to have dinner together. It was a way to keep close and involved in everyone’s lives. Bucky had taken that family tradition and made it his own family’s number one rule. No mater how busy his alpha and first omega were they would attend Sunday dinners, and if they were traveling at the time, then they had dinner with him and their children via Skype. 

“I-“ Bucky hadn’t even told his alpha and first omega about his family, or that he planned to come to Brooklyn to see them today.

“Bring the children and your mates. I... I’d like to meet them. I promise to be on my best behavior and I’ll rip your father a new one if he is anything but polite to your mates.” Winifred attempted for humor, knowing Bucky’s situation was rather controversial, and his father had always thought alpha’s should treasure their one and only mate. His mother’s green eyes were nearly overflowing with unshed tears and the way she looked at Bucky then broke something within him. He couldn’t tell her no. Not after how he’d abandoned her and the rest of his family for ten years.

Swallowing thickly, Bucky nodded in agreement. He’d have to talk about this with his alpha and his alpha’s mate tonight then. Given that Sunday was two days from now. 

“Good. I’ll make your favorites.” Winifred promised while wiping away the dampness from her eyes. 

“Okay, then.” Bucky slid into his seat of the car, his mother quickly wedging herself between the door and him, keeping the door open all so she could talk to him for a moment longer. 

“Call before then, please. All our numbers are the same. Nobody has changed them because... because we knew one day you’d call. I... Your father... We’d like to talk to you later, tonight, if possible. We’ll be waiting.”

Bucky bit his bottom lip to hold back a sob at that realization that he hadn’t had to fear calling them in the past. They would have answered his call happily. He could have been close to his family sooner than today if he hand’t been so afraid. 

“I will.” Bucky meant it with every fiber of his being and reached out his hand to palm his mother’s own that held the car door open for him.

“I’ll let you go then.” His mother nodded her head as if reassuring herself that she could take comfort in Bucky’s acceptance of calling later, and released the door, her hand slipping out of Bucky’s. 

Bucky gave her a parting smile and moved to shut the door, but found himself unable to in the next moment as Winifred grabbed a hold of it again.

“Sorry. I just realized I never asked you the name of your mates.” 

There was a request that Bucky give her the answer to that question and Bucky felt like a fool for not having thought to. 

“Clint Barton is my alpha. Natasha Romanov is the first omega. Yeah, I know, she refused to change her last name. She’s one of the most independent omegas I’ve ever met, but I know you will like her. Clint too. He’s a bit sarcastic, but his heart is pure gold.” 

Winifred grinned was genuine amusement, if not a little hesitant at first. “I’m sure I will like them. If they are as kind and loving as you say they are, then I’m more than happy to accept them as family.”

Bucky didn’t know how much he needed to hear that, until he did and held back the tears at his mother’s acceptance of his lifestyle choice. 

“I’ve got to go now, mom.”

“Right!” Winifred laughed lightly and released her hold of the door and took two steps back and onto the sidewalk to watch Bucky shut the door, and waved at him. Her eyes growing all the more tearful as he started the car and slowly pressed on the accelerator. 

Bucky honked his horn as his goodbye and watched his mother’s frame become all the more smaller through the rearview mirror as he drove away from his childhood home. It wasn’t forever though. He’d be coming again, with his mates and children. Only this time it would be to meet the rest of his family, and he knew he’d feel all the better for it.

**Author's Note:**

> If you would like to see me continue this story, comment below and let me know.
> 
> Comments are the food to my creativity and writing.


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